Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng failed to pay RM500 in cost ordered by a court in 2014, claimed PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan.
Nasrudin made the assertion when responding to Lim’s special legal officer, Raja Syarafina Raja Shuib, who accused the PAS leader today of being in contempt of court by not paying RM10,000 in costs as ordered.
“If using his special legal officer’s logic that failure to pay the court ordered costs amounted to contempt of court, then this means Lim himself had also committed contempt of court by not paying the RM500,” he said in a statement.
The Temerloh MP confirmed that his lawyer only received the official notice asking him to pay the judgment costs this morning, the same time as the statement by Raja Syarafina was released.
“As the legal officer, she should understand that the claim for court-ordered costs, if unpaid, is not contempt of court but is only a civil liability, similar to other judgment debt,” he said.
He explained that the difference meant that Lim was only entitled to initiate debt recovery action against the former if the sum remained unpaid, but not to seek contempt proceedings.
Nasrudin also claimed that he had not been notified of the matter earlier as he was abroad.
The notice of claim was also sent to his lawyer on September 19 and stated he had until September 28 to pay, he added.
“It has only been a little more than a week from the last date to pay the sum so it was unreasonable that the legal officer issues a press statement accusing me of contempt of court, creating a bad perception against me,” he said.
He told Raja Syarafina to instead check why Lim’s lawyer had delayed in obtaining the court order by eight months, given that the matter was resolveed on January 18.
The High Court ordered Nasrudin to pay RM10,000 in costs then after he agreed to an out-of-court settlement of Lim’s defamation suit against him over his Facebook notes posting titled “Apa beza Kidex dan Penang Tunnel” dated August 6, 2014. – themalaymailonline
